BBFC launches first Education Week to support teachers and students across the UK

• BBFC launches its first Education Week from Monday 6 to Friday 10 October

• The week’s worth of activity highlights the importance of media literacy, critical thinking and empowering young people with access to trusted guidance 

• BBFC is set to announce a new national Teacher Panel, publish exclusive research with young people, and launch a KS4/5 teaching resource on the subject of online pornography

• Part of the BBFC’s core mission is to help young people make informed, safe and confident viewing choices

Today, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) launches its inaugural BBFC Education Week, running from Monday 6 to Friday 10 October. The week’s worth of activity will highlight the BBFC’s wide range of educational initiatives, from free school talks and classroom resources to the BBFC’s Youth Panel. The week underscores the BBFC’s mission to help young people navigate content safely and make informed choices about what to watch with confidence.

During Education Week, the BBFC will launch a new KS4/5 pornography resource (developed in partnership with the PSHE Association), announce a new national BBFC Teacher Panel and unveil exclusive research into the impact of TV and film on young people’s mental wellbeing.

With more content available than ever before and the ways we watch it constantly evolving, the BBFC’s mission to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful content has never been more vital. Central to this is providing trusted age ratings and content advice, while also giving educators the tools to support the teaching of media literacy and critical thinking.

BBFC Education Week highlights include (may contain spoilers):

Monday: BBFC’s free educational resources

On Monday, the BBFC will showcase its free classroom resources, designed to provide teachers with everything they need to deliver lessons on a range of issues. These include:

• The BBFC’s ready-to-use PSHE accredited lesson packs, developed for Key Stages 1 to 4, cover topics such as online safety, depictions of mental health on screen, and the portrayal of sex and relationships in film and other media content.

• The BBFC Intro Videos, presented by the BBFC Compliance Team, are bite-sized video seminars that provide a concise overview of age ratings and the classification process, perfect for playing in the classroom.

• Interactive activities, including ‘Rate a Trailer’ and ‘Trailer Tag’, which invite students to classify trailers like a BBFC Compliance Officer

​​​​​​​Tuesday: Meet the new BBFC Teacher Panel 

On Tuesday, the BBFC will unveil a new Teacher Panel, a group of 13 passionate teachers from primary, secondary and SEND settings across the UK. The BBFC’s Teacher Panel, the first in the BBFC’s history, will help shape the educational content and policies with a particular focus on online safety and media literacy. Their insights will ensure the BBFC’s work is directly informed by issues affecting teachers and students and remains impactful in the classroom.

Wednesday: Free nationwide BBFC school talks

Mid-week, the BBFC will spotlight its school talks programme, which sits at the heart of its educational outreach. Delivered nationwide, these talks are designed to directly support the delivery of the film and media studies curriculum, while also introducing students to the BBFC and the importance of age-appropriate viewing. Every talk is tailored to the age, needs and size of each group and is adapted to align with their current curriculum.

In the last academic year (2024/2025), the BBFC delivered over 70 seminars reaching more than 2,200 students both in schools and online. From primary students through to higher education, these highly interactive sessions encourage students to ask questions and engage directly with age rating decisions and content advice. This direct-to-classroom approach helps students better understand age ratings and encourages them to think critically about what they watch, whether in the cinema, at home or online.

Thursday: New BBFC x PSHE Association KS4/ 5 Pornography resource

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting young people from potentially harmful content, on Thursday the BBFC will publish a new classroom resource in accordance with the updated Relationships, Sex and Education (RSE) guidance, which will become mandatory in schools from September 2026. 

As the UK’s regulator of pornography under the Video Recordings Act 1984, the BBFC, in partnership with the PSHE Association, has developed the new resource specifically for Key Stage 4 and 5 students. The two-lesson pack contextualises the BBFC's role in regulating pornography, outlines the potential harms of online pornography and equips students with the tools to understand how consent works online and what they can do to protect themselves and respond to age-inappropriate content.

Friday: World Mental Health Day

On World Mental Health Day, the BBFC will publish the findings of a new poll with 2,000 young people across the UK. The research explores how young people feel about the content they watch, how it impacts their mental wellbeing and whether BBFC age ratings and content advice help support safe and confident viewing choices. Across the BBFC’s social channels, the BBFC Youth Panel will discuss their own TV and film viewing habits and the importance of making informed viewing decisions. 

BBFC Education Week spotlights the crucial role teachers play in helping young people navigate the media they consume. Working with educators and listening to the voices of young people, the BBFC is helping to ensure children and teens across the UK are equipped with the tools to build strong media literacy skills, access age-appropriate content. This will empower them to make safe, informed viewing choices whenever, wherever and however they choose to watch. 

David Austin OBE, Chief Executive of the British Board of Film Classification, said: “I’m delighted to launch the BBFC’s first-ever Education Week, which showcases everything we can offer to support teachers in nurturing a generation of empowered, confident young audiences. Films, video content and websites can make a huge difference in our lives, and we want that difference to be a positive one, especially for children and teens. That’s why we provide age ratings and content advice to help families and young people choose what to watch with confidence, and avoid what’s not right for them. 

“Supporting teachers and students through our education work – whether that’s delivering school talks or designing classroom resources – is central to our mission of helping young people to develop the skills to make safe and informed viewing choices, wherever and however they view content.”

Almudena Lara, Ofcom’s Online Child Safety Director, said: “Our new rules are a reset for children online. They demand tech firms put safety at the heart of how they design and operate their services in the UK - and highly effective age checks to protect children from stumbling across adult content are crucial to that. And these measures need to work alongside education and conversations with trusted adults. Which is why we welcome the work the BBFC is doing with teachers and in schools to help build young people’s knowledge, tools and resilience in navigating the online world.”

Carolyn Bunting MBE, Co-CEO at Internet Matters, said: “As the digital world plays an ever-important role in children's lives, increasingly driven by AI, it's crucial that we empower both parents and educators to support children to navigate the internet safely. We are proud to support the BBFC's Education Week, which will highlight important insights around children's wellbeing, as well as new free resources for teachers to use in the classroom on complex topics like online safety and pornography. It is vital that civil society works together to help keep children safe online, and we are delighted to support this excellent initiative"

Claire Shaw, Press & Marketing Officer at Cinemagic, said: “At Cinemagic, we believe in the power of film and media to inspire, educate and empower young people. That’s why we’re absolutely delighted to have BBFC School Talk’s feature as part of the 2025 Cinemagic International Festival! By joining us and speaking directly to students, the BBFC is helping the next generation to not only enjoy the stories they watch, but also to think about the content they consume.”

Jess Asato MP said: “It has never been more important to equip young people with the skills they need to safely engage with digital content. That’s why I’m delighted to join the BBFC team at Pakefield High School during Education Week. I particularly welcome the launch of the BBFC’s new Key Stage 4–5 resource on online pornography, which will give students the tools to think critically about what they see online and understand its potential harms.”

Richard Holden MP said: “I’ve seen first-hand the fantastic work of the BBFC when I attended their workshop at The James Hornsby School in my constituency. I am a big supporter of the BBFC and its mission to help all audiences have great viewing experiences. At a time when young people are exposed to more content across various platforms than ever before, and with debates surrounding online safety, harmful content, and media literacy intensifying, the BBFC’s Education Week demonstrates a real commitment to protecting children and younger audiences through its age ratings but also the tools it provides to schools and students.”